


My Best Friends Are Famous

by knzclrs25



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Anxiety, Concert, Dating, F/M, Friendship, Jealousy, M/M, Tour, anxiety attack, relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:27:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 9,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25118365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knzclrs25/pseuds/knzclrs25
Summary: This is a story about a girl who becomes friends with the One Direction band, they go through adventures and tour and some of the reality of being famous(exaggerated).
Relationships: Gigi Hadid/Zayn Malik, Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Harry Styles/Original Female Character(s), Niall Horan/Original Female Character(s), Niall Horan/Zayn Malik/Liam Payne/Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne, Zayn Malik/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 9





	1. Prologue

So this is weird, not the story, but my life. I’m best friends with One Direction. Yeah, there I said it. They’re like my older brothers. Well, the story is complicated, how it happened can’t be summed up in just a paragraph. Well it could, but what fun is that. So let’s start at the beginning.

**10 Years Prior**

“Dani! Hurry up we can’t be late!”

“I know Kenz! This is going to be the best day of your life! You’ve told me multiple times. I’m not stupid.”

“I might argue on the last one, but you’re coming to the concert with me so I won’t!”

“Shut up I’ll be down in 5!”

“Ok!” I yelled back. I was waiting in the living room for her to get down so we could go to the concert. This is going to be the best day of my life, I kept repeating in my head.

“You know you’re overthinking this, we don’t have good seats and there is no way that Harry Styles is going to notice you.” Dani said as she arrived in the living room.

“I have hope and even if he doesn’t I’ll just be happy to be able to go.” I smile and we walk out to her car. She’s a year older than me so she can drive already. Stupid 15 year old McKenzie, nothing she can do.

About 30 minutes later we arrived at the venue and walked inside. We have to wait in line for about an hour to get their tickets checked and to find our seats. It was a smaller venue so I still have hope.

The arena goes dark and everyone started screaming. Here’s a little background on me first though. I have anxiety. Social anxiety, normal anxiety and doctor diagnosed anxiety. So I don’t handle crowds or loud noises very well. This was also the first concert I went to, so I kinda made a mistake in not preparing. You’ll get that later.

His shadow appeared behind a curtain and silence, but when it dropped it seemed to get louder than before. I enjoyed most of the concert, he was interacting with the fans up front and singing the Fine Line album. But when it was about 4 songs out from the end the lights turned red and the intro to Medicine started playing.

I don’t know what came over me, but I started to hyperventilate, I stole the water from Dani and sat down, she didn’t notice anything wrong, definitely not noticing that Medicine was one of the best songs on earth and I would want to sing it, but when it ended and Golden came on she knew something was wrong.

She knew how to deal with my anxiety attack, so she did. She held my hand and stood me up. She was doing the things my therapist told her once, but nothing seemed to work, the attack just got worse and worse.

Somehow, I don’t know how, maybe his superhero vision, but Harold Edward Styles noticed and addressed it after Golden ended. He saw me and asked Dani if I was ok. She shrugged her shoulders and he told her to take me out of the arena and then told security to find her and bring us to the back. If I wasn’t thinking I was going to die, maybe that would have been a little more exciting. But I couldn’t breathe and I had tears streaming down my face. Of course I don’t remember this part and this is just from what Dani and Harry have told me, but I’ll believe them because what the fuck!

So we went outside of the arena and the securty guard found us and brought us to the back. She eventually got me to calm down, but wouldn’t tell me where we were, which made being sad that I missed the end of his set even worse.

When he walked into the room, I didn’t move. I was frozen. He walked up to Dani, hugged her and thanked her for keeping me safe. Why the hell would he want to keep me safe?!?! Then he came and sat down next to me, I snapped myself out of being frozen and turned towards him. He hugged me, grabbed my hands and started talking.

“Hi love, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty used to them now. They happen all the time.”

“That’s not good.”

“Yeah I guess, ummm thank you for bringing me back here to meet you. It was my dream for so long.”

“I can verify that.” Dani said, raising her hand. We all laughed a little bit.

“May I?” He gestured to the tears that were falling silently out of my eyes. I nodded and he took his thumb and wiped them off.

“Umm, can we take a picture?” I asked.

“Of course love. Hey Jerry,”He turned to the security guard. “Do you mind taking a few pictures of us.” The guard nodded his head and we took a few pictures of the three of us and a few of each of the pairs. “What’s your instagram?”

“What?” I look at him stunned.

“What’s your instagram? I would like to follow both of you, you seem like sweet young ladies.” He hands me his phone and I fumble to put my instagram in, when I do I give him his phone back and he presses follow and smiles. He does the same with Dani.

He takes us to a room with merch and tells us to pick 3 things out.

“Really? Three? I couldn’t.”

“Yes you could.” Dani already has her three picked out and I pick out a hoodie, a t-shirt and a water bottle.

“Umm, do you mind signing the water bottle?”

“Of course love.” I hand him the water bottle and he signs it and gives it back. I thank him and he finds a security guard to bring us out. When we get back to the car we look at each other, get in and just sit there crying for 15 minutes. I get so many texts talking about how Harry Styles followed me on Insta, but I just ignore them. I met my idol. The one person who could get me to murder someone for no reason. When I get back to Dani’s house, her mom is still up and asks how it went. We just said good and went upstairs deciding we would explain it tomorrow.

Ok so that was a few months before everything started, but you’ll need to know that to get the rest of the story. So yeah, a blonde, 15 year old white girl, with green eyes just met Harry freaking Styles. I met Harry freaking Styles. Oh! My! GOD!!


	2. The First Step

I was in the shower, when the notification popped up on my phone, so I didn’t think much of it until I got out and saw who it was.

My phone dropped and “AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!” I fumble to put my shirt on and call Dani.

“What?” She says as she picks up the phone.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”

“What?!”

“Harry Styles, sent me a DM on Insta. Harry Fucking STYLES!!!!!”

“What?!?!”

“Yeah!”

“Screenshot it and send it to me.”

“No.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because what if it’s personal.”

“You haven’t read it yet?”

“No, I was still in shock.”

“Well fucking read it!”

“Ok, ok, calm the fuck down.”

“Oh look who’s talking.”

“Shut up.” I hang up and click on Instagram and open the DM, it’s a paragraph, a long one. I scroll to the top and read it.

_Hello love, this is Harry Styles, but you probably already knew that. I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay. I remember that concert very well and I remember seeing you. I was so worried, my sister has bad anxiety and so do a lot of my friends, so I know how bad it can be. I just wanted to make sure you were okay and say that I appreciated meeting you. You were a lot nicer than a lot of my other fans, and I like that. You seemed like a very sweet girl. -H_

I put my phone down and sit on my bed. Harry styles was worried about me, how the hell could he be worried about me. I’m just a basic ass fan from Michigan, he has thousands, I know I saw them in concert. Why would he be worried about me?

I picked up my phone and sent a DM back. It took me about an hour just to figure out what to write.

_Hi, I can’t believe you actually just sent me a DM. Let me just say I have been a fan for years now and I have idolized you and all that you do for so long. You are such an inspiration to me and you should be to everyone else. And yes I’m ok, it happens way more than I’d like to admit, so I’ve gotten quite good at shaking it off and acting like nothing happened. Meeting you though, is something that I’ll never forget, not in a million years. Thank you for the free merch and the pictures. I’m sorry to hear about your sister and your friends, I hope that they're doing ok and it’s not affecting their life too majorly. Thank you for saying I’m nice, I might seem like it to others, but just ask my best friend and she might say differently. -Kenz_

I sent it, Harry Styles sent me a DM and I sent him one back. Am I dreaming, I might be, no I definitely am. This can’t be real. I mean why me, out of thousands, why am I so special? I mean he is the nicest, most talented, most pure human being out there and honestly I am none of that. I call Dani again.

“I still haven’t gotten any screenshots and it’s been an hour and a half.”

“They were too personal to send, on both sides. Sorry, plus you would just post them and if you had no proof you couldn’t. I don’t want this posted Dani.”

“Whyyyyyyyyyy?????”

“Because he took the time out of his day to contact me and make sure I was ok, that shouldn’t be plastered on the internet.”

“Why are you so sweet to the rest of the world, but not to me?”

“You deserve it babe.” I hang up and throw my phone on the bed. I got a new package today with photos to hang up in my room, so I open it and start to hang them up. About 5 minutes in I realize that I had no music playing and I went over to Spotify to turn on my ‘1D and Harry’ playlist, yes I have that and about 15 others just filled with the full band and with their solos. I’m a true fan.

About 2 hours later I finished hanging up the photos. I step back to admire my work. 3/4 of the first wall covered in polaroids and pictures. There’s a mix of pictures, the polaroids are of my friends and family. But the pictures are aesthetic ones, ones of the boys, some old pictures of me and just other things that I like. You would think I ran out of pictures by now, but no, never.

I walk back to my bed and pick up my phone seeing that I had a new notification from Instagram, I open it up to see that Harry Fucking Styles sent me another DM. What the hell is this day?! I open it up, and it’s another paragraph. Honestly I just don’t understand my life anymore.

_Thank you love, for following me for so long and idolizing me, but honestly I’m just a normal guy. Well other than being, well you know, but I am just normal. I’m sorry that you have anxiety attacks all the time, that’s not good. But yes, my sister and friends aren’t affected by it majorly anymore. I enjoyed meeting you so much as well, and the merch was for missing the end of my set, I could tell you were sad. And I highly doubt you’re too mean, even to your best friend. (We’re all a little mean to your closest friends). I hope you’ve had a good day. -H_

That’s how it started, just a few DMs here and there, but they kept getting more constant and then all the time. About a month and a half later we exchanged numbers. Yes, I have Harry Styles number. HAHA! As time went on the messages kept getting more and more personal as well. I had to keep fighting Dani off when she tried to steal my phone. I honestly didn’t understand why she wanted to go public, he’s just as much of a person as her and I. Well yeah, nothing interesting yet. And I promise you it does get interesting.


	3. The Most Important Call

So it’s a few months later and things start to get a little interesting. Harry and I have been texting for a while now and have gotten quite close. Dani thinks I’m betraying her, but you can have more than one close friend. Right?

Anyways, they just announced that they’re getting back together. And by they I mean One Direction. I mean the reason I am alive here to this day. Yeah, Harry was texting very dry the past few weeks and I was confused, but I didn’t press him. But now I know why.

He was so happy when I texted him and had no Idea, he thought he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret from me, but he did and was so proud of himself. If I hadn’t met him and know that he was in his late 20s, I would think he was a 15 year old boy.

He’s actually pretty normal. I know that’s weird saying since he’s an international pop star, but he is. He has his bad days, which he likes to talk about. And his good days, which he likes to brag about.

I honestly never understood how someone famous could have a bad day, but listening to him talk has really changed my perspective. The media can be really challenging to handle sometimes and so can millions of fans, so.

I didn’t understand where he was coming from when he asked on our nightly calls though. (yes we have nightly calls. It’s nice to have a routine.) Like I thought he was joking at first. I mean if a super star asked to meet your family, would you believe it either.

“You're joking right.”

“No why would I be joking.”

“Because we live thousands of miles away and we’ve met once.”

“Yeah, but I see you as a close friend so why not.”

“Because then the public will know we’re friends and do you really want that?”

“Of course, well unless you're not ok with that.”

“I’m fine with it, but are you sure you want it.”

“Kenz, stop overthinking this. Your parents know we’re friends right?”

“Yeah, I don’t talk about you much though. I think they’re a little jealous, but I’ve mentioned you a few times.”

“Just bring it up to your parents, I would stay in a hotel and we would hang out a few times. I could buy you all dinner or something.”

“I think you need to remember that I live in Michigan, not in L.A.”

“I know you live in Michigan, but you’ve gotta have something fun to do there.”

“We could go to the zoo.” We both start laughing. “I mean there are a few nice dinner places, but that’s not the fun of our city. It’s fun to go to the shopping outlet by the lake and get some food and then sit by the lake. Or have a barbeque and go eat on your friend’s boat. Or go to the zoo and look at the animals and eat the horrible food. There’s so much more to do here than eat nice and go shopping.”

“Then let’s do that, I just want to hang out with you.”

“You’re going to be majorly ambushed and papped though.”

“I always am.”

“True. Ok, I’ll talk to my parents.”

“Yay!!”

“I’m not promising anything though. If they say yes, we still need to work out details.”

“I don’t care, I get to hang out with you in person!”

I laugh. “You’re way too excited for this.”

And that’s the next step. I talked to my parents and we arranged a date. I know it’s not much, but it was big for us. We’ve met once, at a concert, after I had an anxiety attack. We didn’t know each other. Now we have nicknames in our phones for each other and we call every night and text all the time.

Well when we actually hang out a lot happens. Good, bad, exciting, boring. The whole lot.


	4. My First Mob

“Mom!! We have to be there early!! And not Johnson early!! Normal person early!!” I grab the keys to my mom’s car and stand by the door waiting for her.

“You’re way too excited, why do we have to be 30 minutes early to the airport?” She asks as she walks down the stairs.

“Because it’s Harry!”

“And? You said he’s just a normal person.”

“But the problem is there’s gonna be paparazzi if he’s there too long sooooo.”

“Ok, ok.”

“Yay.” I throw her the keys and run out the front door and jump into the car. She follows me and gets into the car. We drive to the airport and I keep checking the time on my phone.

My mother apparently picks up on me being nervous. “Sweety, we’ll be there on time and everything will go perfectly, just as we planned.

I start to fidget with my shirt. “I don’t know, what if he gets mobbed, or he doesn’t have fun. Oh my god, what if he doesn’t like me in person. What the fuck do I do if he doesn’t like me in person?”

“Language.”

“Sorry.”

“First of all, if he gets mobbed, he’s probably used to it. Second, you are the most fun person I know, so there’s no way he won’t. Third, you are an amazing person and if he doesn’t like you that’s his loss, but if he likes you over technology who is he to not like you in person.” She grabs my hand and rubs it.

About 15 minutes later we get to the airport and park. My mom has to run to keep up with me. Honestly, don't feel bad, I am so excited. But the thoughts that it will go terribly just keep popping up in my head. That is anxiety for you.

We arrive where people get off the plane and wait. I’m so excited that the time goes by really fast, but my mom said it was about 25 minutes.

He’s tall, so not that hard to miss, but I didn’t notice at first. My mom punched me and I whipped my head up. I just realized that Harry Styles came from L.A. to Michigan, just to see me. Like what the fuck.

I ran up to him and gave him a hug. “Hi!”

“Hello love.” He hugged me back and laughed a little bit.

When we broke apart I started talking. “We’ll go to baggage claim and then get you to the car as fast as possible, so you won’t hopefully get mobbed.” We start walking and my mom comes up behind us.

“And if I do, it is part of the job.”

“But I want you to feel normal for a week.”

He stops walking and turns to me. “Kenz, love, we both know there are going to be fans this week, no matter what we do.”

“I know.” We start walking again and get to baggage claim. He finds his bags and we help him get them. When we were about to walk out the front to get to the parking ramp, we were crossing our fingers. It had gone so smoothly so far and we did not need paps messing it up.

Well the wish ended shortly, apparently someone spotted him get on the plane at LAX and it was labeled for this airport, so there were dozens of paps and fans there. From the moment I saw him I had forgotten about my anxiety, that disappeared quickly when I had to face the crowd.

Harry was taking pictures with fans, when he could like sense that I had an anxiety attack coming. He came up behind me and placed his hand on my lower back and helped push me through the crowd. My mom had already headed to the car when Harry said that we could handle it from there. (my mom hates airports.)

He tried to push me through the crowd, but it was so packed. “Umm excuse me, I have to be somewhere in an hour, so if you could please kindly let us through that would be amazing. I apologize if we didn’t get a picture, but I really do have to be somewhere soon.” The crowd magically opened up and let us through. “Thank you.”

Somehow no one noticed me. I mean I didn’t expect it, but I was with Harry so I don’t know. But I was crying. And as soon as we got away from the paps and no one was there, Harry found a wall and sat me down with my back against it.

I guess I had educated him on how to deal with my anxiety, because he did everything perfectly. We sat there for a few minutes with him holding me and me being the baby I am crying into his shoulder.

Once I realized what was happening I sat up and tried to break away, but he wouldn’t let me. “I’m sorry, I guess I just don’t you know fit for being mobbed.”

“Kenzie.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to. Oh I just ruined the week.”

“Kenzie.” He still had his arm around me and his other hand was holding mine. “Kenz it’s ok. You can’t control your anxiety. My first time being mobbed was worse and I don’t even have bad anxiety. You were brilliant and it happens, but why would I even be here if I didn’t want to help you love.”

“I’m sorry.”

He lets go of my hand and brings his up to my cheek and wipes away the tears. “You don’t need to apologize love. We should probably get back to your mum though.”

I pick up my phone and realize that I have 5 texts from her. “Shit.” I call her and she picks up immediately.

“Are you ok?”

“Yes mom.” Harry gets up and helps me up.

“Where are you? It's been 20 minutes.”

“I know mom, there was a lot more paparazzi than planned and Harry has to be nice and take a picture with all the fans.” He looks at me and I shake my head. I didn’t need my mom knowing that I can’t handle hanging out with him.

“Ok, well just get back here as soon as possible please.”

“Of course mom, love you.”

“Love you too.” She hangs up the phone. Harry and I each grab a bag and we start walking to the car.

“Why didn’t you tell her?”

“She doesn’t need to know everytime, plus she’s just going to overreact and tell everyone that I need help. I really don’t need that right now.”

“Okay, just as long as you are fine.” We walk back to the car, I put the bags in the trunk and we both get into the backseat. “Thank you Miss for picking me up today. It was very kind of you.”

“Of course Harry, my daughter loves you, so why shouldn’t we.” I start blushing and he wraps his arm around me.

Yeah, so the first day we met was kinda stressful, but it gets better from here. And worse. But mostly better.


	5. Our First Real Day

That night he came to my house and had dinner. He was going to stay for a movie, but I told him to go to his hotel and get some rest, for we had a long day tomorrow. He had a car come and pick him up and drove away.

It was weird, we didn’t have our nightly call that night and I had just met him. Oh my god, I just met him for like real this time. I went on with the rest of my night like normal. Shower, pajamas, tik tok, wash my face, midnight snack. But the night was abnormal. I had to turn my phone off from everyone asking if I could introduce them to Harry.

I had only told Dani about Harry and made her promise to keep it a secret, but it’s weird when everybody knows, like who would’ve thought that people wanted to hang out with me. They don’t, I knew that, just let me clarify. They wanted to use me like normal. But I don’t know I guess it felt nice to be wanted in some way.

I eventually had to go to bed, for I had a long day planned for tomorrow. It took me a while to fall asleep and I didn’t sleep well, but I think it was just the adrenaline for the next day.

I had woken up the next morning at 8:30. Harry and I had planned to leave my house at 10:00, so I got a headstart on getting ready. Honestly it was just a normal morning, except I had to look good because of the cameras that would be everywhere.

I had packed a bag with all the essentials that we would need that day. Two full water bottles, snacks, my polaroid, my phone, my keys, lots of cash, giftcards, and sunglasses. All the essentials.

Here’s a few things about my city. It basically has 4 parts. You have the family neighborhood, each block is like it’s own big family and it has a little grocery shopping and restaurant area in the middle with lots of parks, perfect for families. On the opposite side of town you have the ‘Ghetto’. Basically just where all the violence happens, I necessarily don’t call it that, but that’s the nickname. Ok, then you have the City. Just the downtown area, lots of things to do, but not the best place to live. It moves very fast. And then the last part. The rich neigborhood, it’s on the east side of town so we call that neigborhood East, and they are called the easters. They live in a different school district technically so most of them go there, but there are exceptions. There you go, you have the four corners or what we call Big Fam, Ghetto, City and East.

I live in Big Fam, so I go to the main school district as does most of my city. Dani lives in East, but she got accepted into my school. (It’s basically the school for smart ass people so.) I have other friends who live in the other places, but for as long as I can remember it’s been Dani and I. She used to live acrossed the street from me, but then her dad got a promotion at work and they moved to East. Ok that was just needed to understand what we’re doing today.

Harry got there 15 minutes early no fucking surprise, punctual ass Harold. I, on the other hand, was not ready. Imagine my terror when Harold Edward Styles knocks on your door and you look like a fucking CRAZY PERSON!!! Of course he didn’t care, perfect ass being.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” I say as I’m scrambling around to finish packing the bad.

“It’s okay Kenz.” He says in his nice calming voice. I take a break and stand where I am. For some reason his voice has always been able to calm me down. “I was early, you have a right to not be fully prepared.”

“Are you sure I don’t think that’s in the U.S. Amendments.”

“I wouldn’t know.” We both start laughing. I finish packing the bag and we head off to our first destination. Somehow we got it so that there are no paps and they won’t be let onto the property, but it happened. When we got there I could tell he was confused.

“We’re at a mall.”

“Not just a mall, the outlet mall. We have like 4 other malls in our area, this one is special though.”

“Why?”

“Well it’s my favorite one, Dani and I used to come here every weekend and it’s the one I knew I loved your music.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is the mall that I first heard my favorite Harry Styles song at.”

“They played Golden here?”

“Yeah, I don’t understand it either. It is not one of your most popular songs, but who knows.”

“Ok so where are you taking me.”

“We’re going to go to my favorite stores, be stopped by a dozen fans, eat amazing pizza and amazing pretzels and have fun. Like normal best friends.” I turn to him and I can see it in his eyes. “No Harry, there is not a Gucci in an outlet mall in Michigan.”

“Damn it.” I swat his arms and he laughs.

We enjoy the rest of the morning, we go shopping and I try to stop him but he buys me clothes. When we go to the pizza place though I walk in to a surprise.

“Dani?” I don’t know what but there is something wrong happening.

“Hey Kenz.” I know something is up. The bathroom door behind her opens and her head whips around and Ash comes out.

“Dani.” I try my best to hold back tears, I almost completely forget that I’m here with Harry. Neither of them do.

“Oh my god Harry Styles.” They both run up and take a picture. When they step back they remember that I’m there too.

“Dani, why are you here with Ash?”

“We were just hanging out.”

“You were just hanging out with my ex boyfriend.”

“Kenzie, it's not what it looks like.” She tries to say as I turn to him.

“Why are you here Ash and I swear on all that is holy don’t lie to me.”

“We’re dating.” I take a deep breath and turn to Harry.

“Are you good with something other than pizza Harr?”

“Of course love.” We walk out of the pizza place and he pulls me into a corner where no one can see us. “Kenz.” I start crying and he puts our bags on the ground and pulls me into a hug. He lets me cry into him for like 10 minutes and then I decide to pull myself together and break the hug. I wipe away my tears and flatten my hair.

“How do I look?”

He gives me a worryingly look. “Brilliant, just as always. But Kenz it’s ok to not be ok.”

“I’m fine, I just want to go about our day like normal, how about we go and get Subway, then finish shopping. After that we’ll get the best pretzels ever and then go back to your hotel to swim.”

“It sounds lovely.” He brings his hand up to my face and wipes off a tear that I must have missed. We pick up our bags and go to eat. The rest of the shopping trip goes pretty normal. A few fans and me being disappointed as we’re walking out.

“You are lying!”

“No I’m not. I’ve been to way more places than you and that was not the best pretzel that I’ve ever had.”

“Liar!”

“Kenzie! It wasn’t the best, but it was in the top 5.”

“It was the 5th best pretzel you’ve had!”

“No, I said it was in the top 5.”

“Well if it was 4, then you would say it was in the top 4. If it was 3 you would say it was in the top 3. So on and so forth. I do not believe it was the 5th best pretzel you’ve ever had.”

“Kenzie I’ve been to hundreds of countries, you’ve never left it! You don’t even have a passport!”

“Shut up!” I swat his arm and he gestures for me to get on his back. I shake my head but he insists. So I did. And next thing I know, I’m on Harry Styles back laughing like we’re absolutely best friends. We get to the car waiting and I hop down and into the car we go. Thank god he bought me a new bathing suit because of course I forgot to get one.

When we get to the hotel we bring our bags up to his hotel room and I get changed in the bathroom while he does in the main room. When I finish getting changed into my bathing suit I step back and look at myself in the mirror on the door.

“Why would he want this anyways?” I let a tear fall and then I hear a knock on the door.

“Hey Kenz, are you okay?”

I wipe away the tear almost immediately. “Ummm, yeah I’ll be out in a minute.” I grab my phone, unlock the door and walk out to where he was waiting. “Sorry I took so long.”

“Kenzie you look amazing.”

“Thank you.” My smile fades as I start to think. He’s literally a mind reader though, like what the fuck Harry.

“Kenz, it’s their loss. They made the mistake of losing you.”

I shake out of it. “Yeah, I know let’s go have fun.” After that we go down to the pool and swim and just have fun like normal teenagers, even though he’s in his late 20s.

When we’re done I change back and we drive back to my house. He walks me up to my door and we hug goodbye. I walk in and he walks back to the car. When I walk inside I get ambushed with questions. I answer vaguely and go to my room. I put my stuff down and take down all the pictures of Dani and Ash I have in my room. I don’t know why I still had pictures of him up, but I did. I replace all my polaroids with ones of Harry and I plan to replace all my big ones with other pictures as well.

When I’m done I pick up my phone realizing that I haven’t checked it since 10 this morning. I see that I have 15 missed snaps from both Dani and Ash and multiple missed calls and messages. I also see that I have 4 texts from Harry, I decide to read them.

_You know you really suck at swimming, right? -H_

_I know you’re sad Kenzie and it’s okay, they made the mistake remember you shouldn’t have to pay for it. -H_

_I love you, your family loves you and so should the rest of the world. -H_

_Goodnight -H_

I smile, I absolutely love how he signs all his texts with ‘-H’. He’s such a baby.

_Goodnight Harr. I love you too <3_


	6. The Goodbye

The next week was just spent with us and us alone. I went to his hotel and he came to my house. We went to the zoo and the hiking trails, we got starbucks and went swimming. We had a barbeque and fun. It went by so fast and out of nowhere the week ended and he had to go back to LA.

“I don’t want you to go.”

“Kenz I know, but you also know that I have to. We made this work before we’ll make it work again.” He says sitting on his bed in the hotel. I run up to him and wrap my arms around him and start crying. “Kenz it’s going to be fine I promise.”

“Ok, pinkie promise?” I hold out my pinkie and he wraps his around it and laughs. He wraps his arms around me and holds me close. I sit up and he wipes the tears on my face away.

“You ready?” He asks when he finishes packing up.

“No, but I don’t think that I’ll ever be.” He smiles at me and wraps me in another hug. We leave the hotel and get in one of his cars to drive to the airport. The entire car ride is silent, it may be because we have nothing to say to each other or that we are both quietly crying. When we get to the airport we walk silently next to each other until we have to say goodbye. I turn to him and smile tears still coming out of my eyes. He looks at me sympathetically but also crying. Apparently we get the same idea and I jump into his arms. He holds me with my feet barely hovering over the ground for a few minutes. I let go and back up slowly.

“You, you’re gonna text me when you get back an...and you will call me like normal when you get home and we’ll get back into our routine.”

“Of course love.”

“I’ve been with you for a week and now when you leave I’m gonna miss you so much.” I choke back a sob.

“I know I’m going to miss you just as much.” He pulls me into one last hug and then disappears through security with his security team. I start crying once he disappears and I start to walk back out to the front. My mom texted 15 minutes ago that she would be waiting there to pick me up. Still don’t have my licsence two weeks Kenzie, two weeks. But before I get there I run into some familiar faces.

“Hi Kenz.”

“Kenzie.”

“Remember us.”

“Oh I wouldn’t know it’s been a few years.”

“Years it’s been like three months what are you talking about?”

“Maybe she left you a few months ago Dani but she left us years ago!”

“Ugh!” With the 4 of them fighting I decide to make a run for it but one of them catches me and grabs my wrists.

“Where are you trying to go?” I look up at the face of Eli. He’s one of my ex best friends, we were close, then he got the toxic girlfriend, who is also here bickering with Dani. Ellenor. I know weird ass name. But she was also one of my close friends, but then she got jealous and toxic so I stopped hanging out with them. “Looks like we’ve got a runner.” He looks closer at my face. “Oh and a crier.”

“Just leave me alone.” I try to shake out of his grip, but he just holds on tighter. The rest of them surround me. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you crying?” Dani asks, I can hear a little concern in her voice but it’s not much.

“It’s cause her little celebrity boyfriend left.” Ellenor says in a mocking tone.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Oh then why are you crying?” I stay silent. “That’s what I thought.”

“I don’t know she may be cwying cause she’s such a cwybaby.”

“Leave me alone.” I fight back tears.

“Why should I?” I can feel the anxiety attack coming. I try to shake out of his grip but he continues to hold on.

“Stop resisting, it'll make it easier for you.” I start breathing heavier and I can feel Dani’s eyes soften.

“Guys.” Tears start falling from my eyes and I start to lose my strength. “Guys!”

“What?!”

“She’s, she’s having an anxiety attack.” I fall down and can barely breathe anymore.

“Harry, harry, harry, harry.”

“Ah, look she wants her boyfriend.”

“Guys we shouldn’t mess with her when she’s having an anxiety attack.”

“Dani I get anxiety attacks and it doesn’t hurt.”

“Ellenor you haven’t seen her’s.”

“Can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe, can’t breathe.”

“Suck it up bitch.”

“Guys you really need to stop.” Dani tries pushing but it doesn’t work.

“Is she having a bad day?” Eli teases and the other two laugh.

“Dying, dying, dying, dying.” I start shaking and I pull my knees up to my chest. Dani shoves Eli off of me and opens up my backpack, she pulls out my water bottle and grabs my blanket. She pulls my knees down and makes my drink from my water bottle. She hands me my blanket and I start rubbing my fingers back and forth on it. She checks my pulse, turns around and starts yelling.

“She could have suffocated! She couldn’t breathe, her wrist was bound and she was surrounded!” They all look down ashamed.

“I thought you didn’t care about her.” Ellenor snaps.

“I don’t, but you still shouldn’t do that to anyone, it’s not okay!” She turns to Ash. “You know how bad her anxiety is and you still did it. Do you not remember the camping trip in 8th grade.” He tries to speak but nothing comes out. “I’m all for a little teasing, but when it’s threatening someone’s life it’s not okay.” She grabs the boys by the ears and evil glares at Ellenor, she pulls them out of the airport and leaves me sitting on the floor, rubbing my blanket, sipping my water.

Once I recover a little bit I look at my phone with a message 25 minutes ago from my mom saying she was here. I stuff my water bottle and blanket back into my bag and run out front into her car.

“Sorry I’m late, it was really hard to say goodbye and then I got lost.” She laughs.

“It’s okay, but let’s get home.” The drive is silent and I just fidget with my shirt the entire time. Harry even comes on the radio and I don’t sing. I think that’s when my mom knew something was wrong, she didn’t ask until later, but I knew she was a little concerned. When we get home I go to my room and cry into my pillow. Harry wouldn’t have cell service for another few hours so I was stuck to my pillow. When I heard my mom knock on my door I quickly sat up and wiped my tears.

“Come in.” She walks in, closes the door and sits on my bed.

“Hey Kenz what’s wrong? You didn’t sing Harry’s music in the car and you basically ran to your room when you got home.”

“I just miss Harry, I know it’s only been like three hours, but I still miss him.”

“I know honey, but I promise it’ll be okay.” She hugs me and then walks out again, dinner was just leftovers so I didn’t eat, Harry still hadn’t texted me so I got a little worried, but he probably just forgot. Even though he never forgets anything. When he missed the nightly call I really didn’t think anything of it, he hates flying super long distances and probably just fell asleep. I text him then turn my phone off for the night and go to bed.

_Goodnight Harr, I love you and hope you made it home safely._


	7. The Realization

I woke up and immediately got into the shower. I hated myself for missing my shower last night so I just did it this morning. There are things that no one knows about me. Little things that I just have to do. Like every time I shower before I get out, I grab my dad's razor and press a little indent in my thigh. Today when I did it it started bleeding a lot more than normal so I had to sit with water running on it for ten minutes. When I get out I place a bandaid on it and then get dressed.

I go and eat breakfast, blueberry pancakes to be exact. I just love pancakes. Like so much. I don’t even remember the last time I had them though. I eat my breakfast peacefully and then head back to my room. I pick up my phone and open it to the messages app. Harry still hadn’t read or opened my message. It was 10:30 here, so 7:30 in L.A. he always wakes up at 6:30 though. No matter how tired he is, he always wakes up at 6:30 and texts me _Good Morning Kenz -H_ at 7:00. (these are all his time btw). Today I don’t think either of those things happened.

Luckily my mom was up and cleaning so I ran straight to her. She looked busy and I didn’t want to bother her, but this was important. I mean what if he was hurt. Oh god I don’t think I could live if he’s hurt.

“Mom!” She jumps and turns around. “Harry hasn’t returned my text from yesterday and he didn’t call me last night like he promised I wasn’t as scared last night because he probably just went to bed early but he always wakes up at 6:30 even if he was out until 4:00 that same morning I don’t know what to do!”

“Ok, Kenzie breathe. He probably just lost his phone or something.” I know that’s not it.

“That’s not it, I know it’s not.”

“Kenzie you’re overreacting.”

“No mom I’m not, he’s important to me and he’s not answering and I’m scared because I can’t lose him I just can’t.”

“Why can’t you?” I look at her with disgust.

“Because he’s my best friend!” I snap. “I may not be his, but he’s mine. He’s my only friend and I’m really not in the mood to lose him.” I run to my room and lock the door. I put my shoes on and climb out the window making sure I have my phone, wallet and I.D. and that I leave the window open so I can get back in. I run away from the house to I don’t know where. I text my mom so that she doesn’t think I got kidnapped. _Going out for a few hours I’ll be back for dinner._ And I’m off.

Ok, so I’m technically sixteen, I turned sixteen two weeks ago, but I don’t have my liscence yet. My test is scheduled for two weeks, because of summer just starting, it was booked. I don’t know where I’m running to, but I just keep running. I run somewhere familiar and see that I end up on Dani’s street. I see her out talking with her family and catch her eye for a moment. I see her excuse herself and start to run over. I try to run away, but I’m out of breath and exhausted so she catches up to me easily.

“Kenzie.” I ignore her, maybe she’ll leave me alone that way. “Kenzie.” Silence. “McKenzie Elizabeth Johnson!”

I turn around and snap at her. “What?! What the hell do you want?! To tease me in the middle of an airport again with your new best friends and boyfriend!”

“Kenzie I saved you there.”

“I wouldn’t have needed saving if you hadn’t done it in the first place!” She looks taken aback and I see a flash of regret in her eyes.

“Why are you here?”

“I don’t know, I started running and my legs took me here. Habit I guess.”

“You hate running.”

“And you hate Ellenor, oh I guess we both lied then. I just needed fresh air.”

“Kenzie what’s gotten into you, you are never like this.”

“Maybe um, I don’t know losing a best friend because she wants to hang out with my ex boyfriend and bullies.”

“You can not blame me for all of that.”

“Oh, but I can.” I turn around and run off. I run to the forest by the lake and weave through the trees to my special spot. No one knows about it, not even Harry. That’s good because then no one can find me and that’s what I need. Space. Most people would just climb a tree and sit in it, but I’m terrified of heights so a few years ago I hung up a hammock. Somehow no one has found my spot for the four years it’s been here. I love it. I can see the lake from where I am, but I’m still in the forest. It’s amazing.

I sat there for a couple hours and read, so I decided that it would be a good time to head back home. I walked out of the forest knowing the way by heart and started heading home. I decided to stop and pick up some Starbucks for my mom because I feel bad for yelling, so I pick some up and finish walking home.

I was still extremely nervous because Harry still hadn’t texted back or even read it. I walk in my front door and announce my presence. My mom comes out and I hand her the drink. She smiles and hugs me. I accept the hug and breathe her scent in.

“I’m sorry I got mad earlier.”

“Honey, it’s okay, I’m sorry I didn’t listen.” We let go of each other and she takes a sip of her drink. “Have you heard from him?”

“No! He hasn’t texted me back or even read my texts!” I tried to breathe camly but that ended quickly and I started hyperventilating. I fall to the ground and start crying. “Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry.” I hug my knees to my chest. “Gone, gone, gone, gone.” My mom tries to pull my knees away but it doesn’t work. As much as you would think differently, she doesn’t have much practice dealing with these, since they're mostly in public and I’m normally not with her in public. She tries her best but honestly has no idea.

“Kenzie, sweety you have to calm down.” Her words go right in one ear and straight out the other.

“Harry gone, Harry gone, Harry gone, Harry gone.” I feel her taking out her phone, but I can’t hear her and she was out of my eye range. I just sit there rocking back and forth crying, hyperventilating and repeating those two words. Suddenly I feel arms around me pulling me away from my knees. I turn my head and see Dani. I start to panic even more. “Not Dani, not Dani, not Dani, not Dani.”

“Why doesn’t she want you?”

“She didn’t tell you?”

“No!”

“I’ll let her explain that, but just get her, her water bottle and blanket, make her drink some water and hold the blanket and she should calm down soon.”

“Thank you Dani.”

“Yeah.” I feel my blanket being shoved into my hands and start rubbing my thumb back and forth on it. My mom pushes the straw of the water bottle into my mouth and then tells me to drink, so I listen. A couple minutes later I calmed down and I turn to her.

“I’m sorry mom, but thank you.”

“Sweety it’s okay you can’t control them.”

“I still feel horrible though, I mean I know I should have trained you.”

“I just wish I could make it easier for you.”

“Well then I don’t know how you could help me. Maybe if you found the reason this started then it would be a little easier.”

“You know I think I can help you with that.” I turn my head and look at her confused. She stands up and I realize that we’re still on the floor. I stand up and follow her outside. I see him there and basically jump into his arms. No not basically, I literally jump into his arms and wrap mine around his neck. He laughs and wraps his around my waist. He holds me there for a while. When I jump down I swat him in the arm. He winces and pulls back.

“Ah, what was that for?!”

“Scaring the shit out of me.” A wave of regret passes over his face.

“I’m sorry, but if I told you I would have ruined the surprise.”

“The surprise.”

“Shit, I said too much.”

“No you did not you better fucking tell me.”

“KENZIE LIGHTEN UP ON THE SWEARING!!” My mom yells from across the yard.

“Sorry!” I turn back to Harry and mouth No I’m not. He laughs and we both earn weird looks from my mom.

“You’ll find out later.”

“How long is later?”

“When we go out for dessert after dinner.”

“That is way too long! Tell me noooowwww.” He shakes his head and fake zips his lips. “Ugh! Wait, but you got onto the plane, or at least you got into the back, how did you do that?”

“I have my ways.” I groan and he laughs.

“Do you wanna actually come in?”

“Only if we get to go to your room.”

“Isn’t it creepy that there are pictures of you in it though?” We start to head inside.

“Nope.” I roll my eyes and we finish walking into my bedroom. He plops on my bed while I take my shoes off and put them away. I clean up a little bit and then jump on top of Harry laughing very loudly at his grunt. I fall off of him laughing so hard, when he picks me up bridal style and drops me on the bed earning a large thud.

“Ow, Harry!”

“You jumped on top of me!”

“So I way like 95 pounds.”

“I know I just wasn’t expecting it.” I laugh and we talk about what to do until dinner and decide on a movie. I turn on the iMac in my room and put in the live action Beauty and the Beast. We sit up and put pillows all across the bed and grab some popcorn. I know what you’re gonna say, why watch the live action one. And I will respond with that is the one we had the disk for.

\---  
Harry’s POV

She fell asleep about halfway through the movie. I mean I understand why, she had a long day and it is a pretty boring movie towards the front. Her head was on my shoulder and she was snuggled into my side. I decide to grab my phone out and snap a picture. I open Instagram. I never really use it so my followers will have a surprise today. I post it with the caption _This is what happened during movie night :)_. I know very creative. I wish I could take full credit for it though, so I will. The idea was 100% mine.

I end up falling asleep too towards the end of the movie, my head rested on hers. It was peaceful, the most peaceful I’ve been in a long time. I don’t know how long we slept, but we were being woken up for dinner. The food was great. Mental note her family are really good cooks. After dinner we went to the ice cream store and it was going to happen there. I was so excited that I could barely breathe. This was the moment.


End file.
